Open letter from the Coordinating Committee of Concerned
Friends of WBAi to the LAB 7-26-01

July 26, 2001

Dear Members of the Local Advisory Board:

As you know, Concerned Friends of WBAI has been working intensively to
improve the situation inside the station and within the Pacifica National
Board. Our working groups include an array of regional groups, all committed
to the principle of democratization of the network. We have just learned
that at your July 31st meeting, the Local Advisory Board will be nominating
four people for membership on the LAB. If this is true, we are quite
concerned about it.

Since you have endorsed the principle of democratization of WBAI and the
Pacifica National Board, we are uncertain as to why you would appoint new
members at this crucial juncture, and we ask that you not do so.

One of the long-standing points in the Concerned Friends Statement (adopted
on January 11, 2001) reads: "We call on station staff and listeners to
support: "... establishment of local election procedures for the ongoing
selection of Local Advisory Board members." When the LAB took your two
voting seats on the Coordinating Committee you indicated your support for
that Jan.11th statement.

We believe the nominating of new members to the LAB will be viewed by many
people as inconsistent with efforts to establish procedures for the
democratic election of the LAB. We urge the LAB, as we have previously,
instead to engage in discussion with the Elections Committee, and others, of
the draft election proposal which we believe you have already seen. Our goal
is to create a mutually agreeable set of procedures that the LAB will
support and help move forward by its endorsement. (If any of you do not have
the draft document you can view it at http://wbai.net/elec_prop_7-18-01.html
or contact us for a copy.)

In the spirit of transparency and sharing information, we encourage the New
York Local Advisory Board to share your reasons for wanting to add new
members at this point. Perhaps you will even consider postponing the
appointment of new members until the issues can be fully analyzed, with
listeners having ample opportunity to respond.

We also request time on the agenda of the July 31st meeting to open up
dialogue with the Local Advisory Board on these issues, most especially, how
to best move the democratization process forward. (The lack of a forum for
our views is one of the losses felt most profoundly in the WBAI community.)
Hopefully on July 31 we will be able to reaffirm our commitment
to work together toward the goal of a reclaimed WBAI and Pacifica.

Sincerely,
Coordinating Committee
Concerned Friends of WBAI

(This letter is being sent by a unanimous vote of the Coordinating Committee
taken at its July 23 meeting.)